She stood in the desert; her eyes filled with dread.

Standing before her was the man with the gun in his hand. Tari faced him, wondering what was next. At that very moment, her life flashed before her eyes, memories of her first video game and her first rubber duck, then she remembered meeting Mario and the day she met Meggy at the carnival, followed by the adventures she'd been on since then.

Tari's heart pounded, but she stood firmly, even as the one before her held the gun. Her very veins felt like they were running with cold ice, her pulse quickened, and Tari stared into the unknown, wondering what would be next.

The tension grew, the man's grip on the gun tightened, and a hand raised. Tari stepped back, dreading the worst. Seconds ticked by and a finger twitched, moving over the trigger.

'No, no...'

BLAM!

The hand slackened and the gun dropped. Tari gasped, feeling the impact in her body. She looked down, watching as a red blotch grew in the front of her sweater.

Tears filled her eyes and Tari's heartbeat slowed. Her knees shook and she clutched the spot where the bullet had hit her. Tari felt her arm short-circuiting. Her breaths became labored and she was hit by a memory, the day of the battle on Anime Island, when she watched as Desti was impaled by the blade of the Sephiroth replica conjured up by Francis with Axol's Inkweaver.

Her vision blurred, Tari stumbled, feeling the blood stain her hand. The cyborg dropped to her knees, looking up into the eyes of the man who'd shot her. She reached for the gun, but her limbs felt heavy...

'Archibald, Mario, Meggy...' She thought, 'No, it's over... I'm sorry if I wasn't strong enough...'

She accepted her fate, knowing she would be passing into the great unknown, into the realm of the Great Beyond, where she would join Axol, Desti, and perhaps many others she never truly knew in her fleeting life.

Tari looked down and fell over, rolling onto her back, with her hand over the spot where the blow had been struck. She stared to the sky, one final time, and darkness overcame her vision...

"NO!"

Tari sat up, rubbing her head with shock. She blinked and noticed that she was still on the train, she looked out the window to observe the view of the passing fields. Tari looked down at herself, noticing there was no blood stain on her clothes. She checked her pulse, seeing that she was fine. Tari rubbed her head once more.

"You alright?"

Meggy stood next to her, looking at the cyborg gamer with concern. Tari breathed slowly, feeling thankful that she was still here, that her friends were still here. But that dream she just had, was it all a dream, or was it a vision?

Mario stood next to Meggy, holding a plate of his favorite food while he eyed the gamer with a hint of worry upon his mustached face.

"Tari?" Meggy asked, "You look disturbed, there's no need to hide it from your friends. And you did give me a scare when you sat up with a yelp. It's like you had a disturbing dream and something in that dream really gave you a fright."

"I was shot."

"What?" Mario asked.

"We were in the desert, in Western Spaghetti, and there was something wrong. I saw someone, someone with a gun. They... He... shot me. There was no way out of it until I woke up, it felt real. It felt like a vision, I've... I've been having bad feelings about something happening, something insidious following us, and I'm worried something will happen to us in the desert."

"C'mon, Tari, it was a bad dream." Meggy hugged her.

"Yeah, Mario has bad dreams sometimes, but he keeps going no matter what." Mario added.

"Whatever happens in Western Spaghetti, we'll be alright." Meggy said, "We're gonna meet Oneshot Wren, he's gonna inspire you. And if something happens there, if we deal with any danger, we'll pull through it and live to tell the tale."

'I hope so.' Tari thought.

She hugged Meggy, then she hugged Mario, forming another heartwarming group hug. And somewhere close by, the mysterious TV flickered and the image of a smile-y faced TV made an appearance before the TV screen went back to static...

The End

(To be continued in SMG4 Movie: Western Spaghetti)